Cleveland Browns Not Concerned With Johnny Manziels' Partying

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Head Coach Pettine Would Only Be Worried If He Wasn't Interested In Football

Head Coach Mike Pettine and the Cleveland Browns continue to pledge their support of the Browns rookie QB Johnny Manziels' activities over the past few weekends.

After a weekend of partying in Texas, where he was photographed floating on an inflatable swan while drinking champagne in a nightclub pool, Manziel was on the field Tuesday as the Browns opened a mandatory three-day minicamp.

The team is not making their popular Heisman Trophy-winning rookie quarterback - or starter Brian Hoyer - available to the media this week.

Following practice, Browns first-year coach Mike Pettine said he's not worried about how his young QB spends his free time.

''I'm not concerned,'' Pettine said. ''I would become concerned if it was something criminal and I would be concerned if it affected his job. There's a lot of our guys, if when they leave here if they were followed around, you'd get some very similar pictures. I don't know about an inflatable swan, but you'd still get some pictures.''

Manziel has said he intends to keep living his life to the fullest, and Pettine doesn't feel the need to monitor the 21-year-old's every move.

''The philosophy here is that we're not going to micro-manage the guys,'' Pettine said. ''I was involved in an event this weekend, and if there were some cameras at certain times it probably wouldn't have been the most flattering. It was a group of coaches out and we had a good time, but we were responsible. When it becomes irresponsible or it becomes part of breaking the law or it's something we feel is a potential problem, we'll step in.''

Head Coach Pettine continued on saying that his only concern would be if Manziel was not showing any enthusiasm for the game of football.

"What we don't want is a guy that loves what football does for him and really doesn't love the game. And that's very much not the case with Johnny (Manziel). He absolutely loves football, very competitive," Pettine said.

"He's very difficult on himself, he's a guy that he wants to win every down, and you could tell. He gets very upset when things don't work out. That showed up in his college tape, when there were times when he felt he had to take it on himself to will his team to win. And we understand too that he does love what football has done for him, and in large part I think a lot of us are jealous of what football has done for him. After he wins the Heisman, and the world was kind of laid at his feet."

What receiver Andrew Hawkins has seen is nothing but work from Manziel.

“He works his butt off Monday through Friday. Whatever’s asked of him, he does. When he’s out there on the field, he’s working hard. Anything beyond that is none of my business,” Hawkins said. “Football is intense. You have to let loose a little bit, otherwise you’ll probably go crazy. But like I said, I don’t know what Johnny does on the weekend. It’s none of my business.